Living the GOOD LIFE!

I am a tired happy dog. YUP!

There is no denying it. I am the luckiest dog in Coos Bay, Oregon. Mamma holds me before its time to go to bed at night, plus James reads bedtime stories for us.
Days are filled with fun, but we do work during the day, and plenty. I know it may not look like it. This is why I have the best profession ever. Best of all, I get to be me. I get to take plenty of pictures, socialize with other dogs, help James train people with dogs, and we get to exercise a BUNCH. All of us get into the action, too. James puts on his moccasins, Mamma gets ready to do a Tracy Anderson workout, even Skuzum gets into work-mode, or, shall I say, poop-mode. We all have a role to play here.

On Thursday, James took Emma and me out for a sunny afternoon stroll, since the weather was permitting. Although weather has never kept us from living a balanced life and living on the wild side.
"Hey Emma, this is pretty cool."

"Yes Sundance! I do like the smell of the outdoors, and best of all, I LOVE JAMES!"
"Me too Emma."

"Let's see if James can find us behind this cinder block wall."
On Saturday, James and Mamma took me to the tasty salty beach. This is as good as licking James' head after he finishes running.
He has no idea how happy the beach makes me feel. I think this picture may come close to it.

I am not so bummed to be going home now. We just spent the last few hours running and fetching. I am so glad we had today because, as you may know, "All work and no play makes Sundance a dull dog."

Have a great week friends. LIVE HAPPY!

Dominance comes in all forms

This week we waited and waited for fun-day Sunday. Monday we were blessed to have some snow fall in a flurry. Tuesday we had 80 mph winds. Wednesday was just wet. Thursday just a lit bit more of the same. Friday winds came late, and Saturday we had periods of downfall and flooding around the county. But Sunday, now thats when Mother Nature showed her first sign of force and the power of life.
We were told on Saturday that towards the north end of Bastendorf Beach, a group of large breed dogs meet at 9 a.m. every Sunday. I was game and marked it down in my mental dog planner. Honestly, why wouldn't Mamma and James find this to be a fortuitous opportunity? I could get my dog on, and they could get their social on. What better way to cap off a hard-working week than to share the company of my brothers and sisters from anotha' motha'.

As we closed in on our destination, we found no dogs, just more of the powerful aftermath, and right-now-math, of Mother Nature. Bastendorf's north jetty was about to be swallowed up by the sea, yet that did not stop onlookers from having coffee and breakfast in the their trucks. We looked for a bit, then drove farther south where we pulled over and parked. The ocean left us very little beach to play on, but that did not stop Mamma and me from jumping out and enjoying ourselves. We were running around until another dog and human showed up.

Now many of my friends know me as a friendly and non aggressive dog. But apparently raw dog handlers consider my sexiness to be a bit threatening; one could even naively call me dominant. HA! I LAUGH! James has raised me to be respectful of people and other canines, I follow all canine codes of courtesy since I have been socialized from a young age and learned well in the time I was with my birth momma. I always look to James for approval when onlookers come in and try to join our fun.

"Is your dog friendly?" "Has your dog been fixed?" "Is it okay if we say hi?"

"Yes. Please do."

I find it rather interesting when owners of dogs are so careful to ask first and than let themselves be dragged by their dogs in a rush to meet me. First sign of disrespect. Second sign, who is in charge. Answer: dog. Now don't take my kindness for weakness, but I am not just going to sit there and allow some dog to bump up against me while I am in a submissive position, especially when my personal space is encountered with a charge of negative energy.

Next thing I heard was, "You need to call your dog because he is showing signs of dominance." Now you think James was going to take that? Never. "It's that you need to ease up on your leash, Homey." I do not think the man knew that was coming, and he walked away in a hurried manner, being pulled by his dog on a long leash and barked at repeatedly by his dog. Ce la vie! Do you really think we were bothered? No, just thrown off our groove. But it needed to be told. I mean look at me, do I look like I was affected?

Momma kept having me chase her down the beach, then sending me far away to where Daddy stood whistling for me. Then he would send me back to Momma, and over and over again for 15 minutes until I was panting and drained. Literally. When Daddy told me to go peepee before we left, I lifted my leg and nothing was left to come out. But I'm obedient, so I stood with my leg lifted, then jumped in the truck and panted the whole way home. Then I got a cold bath in the wind from Momma, got a blow-dry from Daddy, and now I'm sitting calmly pursuing meaningful communication and blogging.

McFlurry Sunday

Hi good-looking readers!

It is Sunday morning in Coos Bay, Oregon, and most of the town folk are still settled in bed or on their way to church. I happen to know this fact because, had it not been for our first flurry of the year, I too would have still been lounging on my loft.

Instead, Momma and James behaved as any sensible human would and stacked on layers of clothes to take me outside and experience our frosty winter morning. This was a good call because I was eagerly ready to shower the front lawn with some of my own showers. The special thing is that it hailed this morning, even though the forecast was for flurries, and the skies were blue! So we walked in it.

Many people are not aware of this, but James is a big Denver Bronco fan. As much as he would have enjoyed seeing his team advance, he is aware that the TEBOW will live another day. Oregon has a mix of Raider's, 49er's, Green Bay, Seattle and Bronco fan's, but one can be certain that if you are not a Duck, then you must be a Beaver. I could care less because I would much rather be hunting ducks and beavers with my friends Emma and Kobe.

Here I am with Mamma. I was glad to go down these stairs because Mamma always let's me have fun. James just takes me out for long walks and runs. By the way, this past week we did eighteen miles in two days, pretty remarkable. It's a load of fun because we are out before the sun comes up, but by the time we head home the sunshine is happy.

LIVE HAPPY!

Exotic

The exotic times have rolled into town. After another joyful week of training, Sundance capped off his first week of 2012 with some epic beach time. The Sunday return to the Pacific Ocean brought with it a Great Dane, a Chihuahua, a Pit-Bull, a senior and a juvenile Black Lab, two Arabian horses, and a plentitude of fetch time. The day was filled with plenty of vitamin D and laughs.

As colorful as this week was, Sundance continues to find joy in everything. His grandma Moonie recently purchase an XXL bed for her four-legged grandson. We call it 'The Loft." We have just now entered a very wet portion of winter in Coos Bay, OR, and find ourselves battling mold concerns daily. So the loft moves in and out of the master bedroom to accommodate Sundance's sensitive delicate needs (skin allergies). Also, with some very smart thinking, we obtained a dehumidifier named Jetson to help with our moisture issue. Sundance has been a champ and just rolls with it. He sleeps like a king on his loft, while we sleep on our twin, and Skuzum our cat sleeps on me.